Stillwater Area Public Schools superintendent Corey Lunn is headed back to the state where he started his teaching career.

The Johnston Community School District near Des Moines, Iowa, has tapped Lunn to be its next leader. Lunn, who has been superintendent in Stillwater for three years, has until Thursday to accept the offer. He beat out 90 other applicants in the nationwide search.

“It’s bittersweet,” Lunn said during a phone interview from his Stillwater office Monday. “There have been great experiences here, and we’ve met great people. We live in the community, my kids are in the schools, and they’ve just excelled.

“(But) this just feels like a really good fit. (Johnston was) looking for some new ideas, some new programming, and that just fits perfectly with my strengths.”

The Johnston district is growing by 150 to 200 students a year and plans to spend $120 million in the next four years on building projects, including a new $80 million high school, Lunn said.

“They went to the community for only a third of (the $80 million) because it was funded through a sales tax that goes back to school districts to support facilities,” he said.

Stillwater, on the other hand, continues to face a budget shortfall even after voters in November approved a levy renewal and increase worth $16 million annually. Last week, school board members began the process of cutting $2.5 million in spending from the 2014-15 budget.

“I really asked myself what I needed as a superintendent, and what Stillwater schools needed as a superintendent,” Lunn said. “Even with passage of the successful levy, there are still a lot of challenges and tough, tough choices that need to be made here.”

Lunn said that he was not actively looking but that the Johnston job caught his eye because his wife, Kathy, is from outside Mason City, Iowa. The Johnston school board has planned a special meeting Thursday to approve the hiring and finalize the contract, which Lunn is expected to sign immediately after the meeting.

Lunn’s three-year contract with Stillwater, which expires this year, stipulated he would be paid $160,000 his first year, $164,000 the second and $168,100 the third.

The Stillwater district has about 8,500 students in grades pre-K through 12. It has nine elementary schools, two junior high schools, a high school, an alternative learning center and an early childhood center.

The Johnston job was advertised at a salary of $225,000 a year, but Lunn said that while the “salary is a little bit of a bump, it’s not as big as it looks.”

The Johnston district has 6,700 students, pre-K through 12, taught in five elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school.

“Iowa and Minnesota are very different about how they approach contracts,” Lunn said. “In Iowa, they put more of the money on salary, and then you pay for a lot of benefits like annuities …. I want people to know that this wasn’t a money thing that is driving me. This was a fit for me and my family, and I think it’s an opportunity for Stillwater School District to think what they need for the near future and find the leader they need.”

The current Johnston superintendent, Clay Guthmiller, is retiring at the end of his eighth year with the district. Lunn is expected to start his new job July 1.

Stillwater school board Chairman Tom Lehmann wished him well.

“I think this is a great opportunity for him,” he said. “Corey’s done great work for Stillwater schools. He helped pass the levy and helped implement the Bridge to Excellence, which is our strategic plan that we’re really excited about and focusing on for the next five years.”

The board next meets on March 27, and Lehmann said he expects the discussion about finding a new superintendent “will begin rather quickly.”

Lunn said he was proud that the latest school levy was approved by 63 percent of the voters — “the highest percentage that they’ve ever passed a levy” — and of his work on the Bridge to Excellence plan.

“To me, the Bridge to Excellence is the hope for our district,” he said. “As hard as the budgets cuts are, you can’t get rid of the hope. You’ve got to grow and do things differently. That’s important, I think, to capture people’s attention and try to get enrollment back up. If you don’t do that, then what’s the option? Then you’re cutting, losing kids; cutting, losing kids; cutting.”

He said the new superintendent will face some tough decisions.

“I’m convinced there is a diamond here. There always has been,” he said. “They need someone who can come in and continue that. There is still a great future for the school district.”

Before taking the job in Stillwater, Lunn led the Montgomery-Lonsdale, Minn., school district for four years. He also spent 12 years at Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools as a principal, assistant principal and teacher and taught science in Mason City.

Lunn earned his undergraduate degree at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minn., and has advanced degrees from Mankato State University and the University of Minnesota.

Mary Divine is a reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. She covers Washington County and the St. Croix River Valley, but has also spent time covering the state Capitol. She has won numerous journalism awards, including the Premack Award and the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists' Page One Award. Prior to joining the Pioneer Press in 1998, she worked for the Rochester, Minn., Post-Bulletin and at the St. Joseph, Mo., News-Press. Her work has also appeared in a number of magazines, including Mpls/St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Business Monthly and Minnesota Magazine. She is a graduate of Carleton College and lives in St. Paul with her husband, Greg Myers, and their three children, Henry, 16, Frances, 14, and Fred, 11.

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